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The PBMC Metacompendium / Mark of Cania
« on: March 22, 2018, 04:53:28 PM »
only stacks up to 10 times.
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Every 4th time, it gets it done wrong.
RP: Must compulsively bury every dead sentient creature found, even most hated enemies or:
Mechanical: swap feat & spell known
Mechanical 2: extra 3 hours a night to get a good night's sleep.
Background
I think the best way to look at balance is to compare specific builds throughout their range of levels. I would assert that
1) Gestalt costs casters the greatest
2) Gestalt benefits non casters the most
3) Gestalt should be best balanced for Gish.
1 and 2 are pretty obvious, please let me know if you agree with 3.
If so:
At level 2:
Human Paragon 1/Sorcerer 1 ~= Gestalt Fighter 1/Sorcerer 1Conclusion: Roughly equal - perhaps very slightly in favor of the Gestalt(click to show/hide)
At level 5:
Human Paragon 3/Sorcerer 2 ~= Gestalt Fighter 4/Sorcerer 4Conclusion: Roughly equal(click to show/hide)
At level 8:
Human Paragon 3/Sorcerer 2/Eldritch Knight 3 ~= Gestalt Fighter 6/Sorcerer 6Conclusion: Roughly equal(click to show/hide)
At level 13
Human Paragon 3/Sorcerer 2/Eldritch Knight 8 ~= Gestalt Fighter 10/Sorcerer 10Conclusion: Roughly equal, but ...(click to show/hide)
Now it starts to get more complicated as the fact that the gestalt get's lots more special abilities has to be balanced by lower level adjustment.
If we only did +2 LA, the Gestalt would be equal in almost every way and! have more class abilities. With +3 LA the gestalt is basically paying +1 LA for 3 bonus feats. Additionally, the gestalt build isn't that optimal, since a "real" core gestalt would have also dipped in Paladin 2 and/or Barbarian 2 and/or Ranger 2.
At level 18
Human Paragon 3/Sorcerer 5/Eldritch Knight 10 ~= Gestalt Fighter 15/Sorcerer 15I think this is roughly equal ... ~4 bonus feats for a caster level. Perhaps a little strong, but acceptable.(click to show/hide)
At level 20
Human Paragon 3/Sorcerer 7/Eldritch Knight 10 ~= Gestalt Fighter 17/Sorcerer 17Conclusion - this is in favor of the Gestalt. Better BAB, slightly better HP, slightly worse saves, -1 CL, but far better class abilities (~5! bonus feats). I think +3 LA is not enough. bumping it to +4.(click to show/hide)
Conclusion
example:
- from levels 1 - 4 it is +1 LA
- level 5 = +1.5 LA
- from levels 6 - 11 it is +2 LA
- level 12 is +2.5 LA
- from levels 13 - 17 it is +3 LA
- level 18 is + 3.5 LA
- from levels 19 - ... it is +4 LA
If we round down we make the Gestalt stronger relative to a gish, if we round up, we make it weaker relative to a gish. I'd argue to favor strength (balancing closer to a pure caster). This also works well, to simplify ...
Easy simplification - Gestalt is +1 LA per 6 levels.
At low levels a gish often trades 1 CL for BAB / proficiences / feats. (1 CL ~ 1 LA)
At mid levels, there is usually a trade of a 2nd CL for a dual progression class (2 CL ~ 2 LA)
At high levels, there is less of a trade off, but usually the Gestalt starts getting more cool class features (2+ 6 levels of class features per 1 CL)
Do you agree with my method? (Balancing against a gish vs. against a caster or non-caster)?
Do you agree with my judgments? (break points for extra LA?)
Thanks,
David
A living creature can go without sleep for a number of days equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum one). Thereafter it is fatigued, remaining in this state for a number of days equal to its Constitution modifier (again, minimum one); if it would become fatigued during that time, it is exhausted instead. Each day after that period, the creature takes 1 point of Wisdom damage. If the total Wisdom damage exceeds its Hit Dice, the creature is affected as if by an insanity spell.Elder Evils p9